Chapter 16.
Title : Nightmares.
Flashback :
No, she had not been smiling at the assistance that she had asked for, but she was smiling up at him. He could not tell if it was a nervous smile, or a smile out of fear, or a simple genuine smile – but it was a smile.
Too bad, he did not smile back. He just blinked down at her, and turned away towards his mundane office surrounding trying to justify his abnormal heart beat rate. He was probably startled at being caught, he thought to himself. Maybe he had not expected her to catch him, he had thought.
Today had been the day.
The day, various council members with balding heads and sly intelligence had voiced their thoughts on Gaara Sabaku's marriage, in their equally croaking voices. Truth be told, Gaara had not expected the outcome of their Annual Council Meeting. Every year, the council simply sat down with the Kage in their usual teakwood table that was made to be in a C shape so really, it looked like a Circle meeting of the Sunagakure officials with Gaara always being in the centre of attention and scrutiny.
It had not changed even after Rasa, the fourth Kage's death. Gaara had been under scrutiny during the predecessor's tyrannical reign and it continued even more so after his son succeeded the throne. Older, wiser council officials regretted the decision, and hated Gaara for it, all the while wondering how a teenage boy of the mere age of seventeen had come to rule the village whilst they, being so much more experienced and just were suppressed to the level of a lowly official. It was a no brainer that the Kazekage throne was sought after desperately, after Gaara sat on it. The older officials expressed their hatred by trying to get rid of the boy with the monster sealed inside him, but they never seemed to remember just how powerful the boy was. Hadn't they heard about the mass genocide that was obviously led by Gaara? Had they not heard of his psychopathic, murderous tendencies? Were they stupid enough to believe that the sealed monster, Shukaku would allow a single human contact? It would never allow harm to touch its wounded host.
Surely these wise old men were aware of this fact? Yet, they did not hesitate to show their disregard towards the Kage.
The Kage however, did not mind himself over puny matters such as their emotions towards him. He was a skilful artist at showing indifference towards the world at large, and he would simply continue his masterful performance of not caring about their opinion. He was the Kage, and nothing those old toady men did, would change that.
However, even Gaara Sabaku, the beautiful monster who did not flinch at the sight of the murders he committed during his past battles, had not expected the outcome of the dreary council meeting.
Later, that day, he had shut himself inside his crummy little office that seemed too small, and suddenly, the man started feeling almost claustrophobic. He needed air, and had to loosen the collar of his attire, as if it were robbing him off from oxygen supply. His hair was dishevelled, his clothes were not neat, and his eyes were paler than usual, as was his skin. His eyebrows were knitted throughout which soon led his already bad headache turn ten times worse. What he had heard, was a valid cause for a splitting headache for anyone, let alone the Kage.
*A Few Hours Ago*
"It has been hardly a couple months since the wedding, Asuma." Gaara Sabaku spoke in a gloomy tone and with a voice made out of ice that could make even a human devoid of emotions, cringe.
"My word is final, Gaara."Asuma, the desert village's oldest and wisest counsellor spoke in an equally grim voice. He had known Gaara Sabaku, the loveless child, since the days of his father, Rasa. Asuma had favoured the decision of Shukaku being sealed inside the innocent child, and had thus become a close acquaintance to the family too. He took it upon himself to support the three Sabaku siblings but soon abandoned them once he realised how dire the situation had turned out to be, in the case of the poor redhead.
He was, but ,an innocent child.
The relationship between Asuma and Gaara Sabaku was strained as it could be, but both of them needed eachother for the benefit of the village. Gaara however, was just. Asuma, unfortunately for the village, was not. Being the only person to favour the idea of Shukaku, the tailed beast, being sealed inside an innocent child, the man was intended to be twisted. He was brilliant, and had in fact, been the one behind the scheming notion of creating a human weapon for protection purposes.
"We require proof that you are suitable to preside class, and will be so in the near future." With the last of that, Asuma adjourned the meeting as quickly as it started. The man did not enjoy wasting time and always preferred going straight to business to trivial conversations. Maybe that was why he had been able to hold onto his important counsellor position for such long periods.
The meeting may have been over but the contents of the meeting still remained clear in the Kage's brain, which had already caused the beginning of a painful migraine.
From the path from the conference room, to the Kage's small office, Gaara kept replaying the message that Asuma directly threw at him.
Gaara Sabaku sat silently in his office, absentmindedly holding his temple and rubbing it gently not wanting to touch a wrong place and cause severe pain. His eyes were turning heavy, and the papers beneath him seemed to jump up to life and dance in front of him. Numbers looked scary, and wobbly. Words seemed out of place, but he pressed on. He pulled out a fancy looking fountain pen and started to scribble away at a paper that was apparently addressed to Lady Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. He had to write her a letter about the council meeting that had taken place earlier that day. He needed to earn the Hokage's permission, or at least ask of her opinion. He urgently need to meet with her.
However, it probably had been only about a single line of sentence, before the paper beneath him started to dance altogether and the fountain pen's ink blotched the paper silly. Those tiny blotches looked like huge black holes for the redhead, and soon enough those giant black holes began to engulf the Kage into a dreamless slumber.
"You have not been fulfilling my demands, boy." Gaara could not see the owner but he could hear the anger in the monster voice. He did not have the heart to visualise the monstrosity. Yet he seemed completely calm, outwardly. His voice tone and pitch did not change and his expression seemed the same as It always did – pale.
"I wont hurt my wife."
"Are you sure about that, boy?" the voice growled, but Gaara could hear the sinful laughter in it. He could hear the impending threat hanging above him like a guillotine. But he would not show his fear. If it could be called fear at all.
And then, everything went black.
The redhead blinked several times only to be welcomed by darkness in every corner. He blinked some more and scanned wherever his gaze could take him, until he saw a tiny light. Moving forward somehow, he saw his wife.
Hinata was laying down on her bed, complete with lavender quilts and purple cushions. She appeared to be in dire pain, but her pale orbs caught glimpse of the redhead slowly walking towards and her expression changed within seconds. She smiled heartily at him, the blush never leaving her cheeks though. Gaara gazed at her pearlescent orbs, as he made his way and sat down beside his wife despite a midwife urging him not to. The midwife looked tense and inexperienced, and wanted the man to leave for the woman with indigo hair required assistance.
Gaara Sabaku's pale gaze lowered down to his wife's bulging stomach. He was pleasantly surprised, but he did not smile fully. He was content however. He gently touched her protruding belly and rubbed it as if already showing his love for the foetus living inside its mother.
Within seconds of his touch, the happy situation turned upside down completely.
Hinata's beautiful face was twisted in pain, and she started crying out in a voice that caused goosebumps in the Kage's skin.
"Shizuka, I-I-I think s-something is happening w-with h-him!" Hinata screamed, and grabbed onto the soft bedsheet and scratched at the pale soft cloth. Gaara could not do anything, and just sat there stiff like he had been turned to stone like one of the many statues the gorgon Medusa had cursed. He watched in horror as the rich lavender bedsheet laid stained with blood. Hinata's thighs were spread out, like she was expecting to give birth soon, and from those thighs, blood poured right down, staining the already stained bed.
"Please milord, you cant be here!" Shizuka, the midwife cried out. Her face was twisted in a scowl and her hair was half suddenly seemed extremely dishevelled. Her gloves were already stained with a little blood, and she gently pressed the pregnant woman's abdomen. The pregnant woman in question could not stop screaming for it seemed like, every breath she took was like a punishment. "H-He's n-not breathing, S-Shizuka! P-P-Please s-save him!" She screamed every word with a higher tone until her voice caused Gaara immense pain while he simply watched on, dumfounded and in sheer horror.
While minutes seemed like years, and with each blood curling scream the redhead died a little inside, the delivery was soon successful.
The bed, was nearly completely stained in blood and it reeked of it. Her clothes, once a pure beautiful white in color, now lay limp and damp, caked with blood stains. Her breathing was very shallow. And her eyes, they were barely open. But she knew she had done the glorious deed of bringing a child into the world. Their child.
She could now rest in peace.
Gaara had only just begun to hold his newborn, wrapped in a warm cloth when he realised his wife's shallow breathing turn even more shallow until it stopped completely. His non-existent eyebrows were knitted together, and he moved towards her, his knees growing very heavy.
"Hinata?" He called out once, and watched the life drain out of his beautiful wife. Her breathing had stopped, and her skin turned paler than usual. She stopped blinking, and her mouth was shut tight. She could not look at her child after bringing him to the world, but she could feel that it was beautiful. A perfect combination of herself and her dear husband, Gaara.
"It killed you." The redhead's voice broke as he spoke in a hushed whisper.
Gaara woke up with a startle. His head jerked up, and he blinked a couple of times. He scanned his office wearily and then touched his forehead, near his kanji.
Sweat.
It had only been a nightmare, the redhead sighed softly. He gazed down at the incomplete letter and with due thought, crumpled up the paper and flung it across the room with all his might. Soon after, he went back to rewriting the letter from scratch, this time with more concentration.
He ignored the distant voice in his head, chanting for the woman's blood. Somewhere in his subconscious mind, he could hear a faint laughter. The laughter slowly started growing fainter until it stopped. Gaara's eyebrows knitted again, and he clasped onto the pen tighter than he intended to. His knuckles hurt but he kept putting pressure on the pen's nib till it broke.
"She will be mine." The voice from within laughed. It sounded like a menacing laugher but Gaara was not afraid. He had been afraid of the dream he had, but not of the monster living inside him.
Instead, he started pondering about the impending issue that threatened his position at the office.
He needed an heir.
A/N : HEYYYY, I hope you liked this chapter.
1, yup I nearly abandoned it again and did it almost lol.
2. But this is like a guilty pleasure and I couldn't abandon it.
SORRY guys and please keep reading this. I'll try to update faster once I find out what to write about in the next chapterlol.
Kisses!
p/s please review, and follow/like my story.